


pick apart a hundred flowers

by tvprince



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Other, Trans Characters, trans girl mihashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 05:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6552106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvprince/pseuds/tvprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was doing it again.</p><p>(Mihashi's having a bad day and Hanai tries to make things a little bit better.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	pick apart a hundred flowers

**Author's Note:**

> i was decidedly Not Going To Post This and then i forgot about it then i FOUND it and figured why not
> 
> a tumblr prompt drabble for 'send me a ship and i'll write something based on the next song that comes on shuffle'
> 
> "quiet" by lights

She was doing it again. Honestly, it was so obvious, not even worth making the effort to hide the symptoms, and yet one look and Mihashi obviously fought to keep from shaking, eyes from looking away too quickly, feet from bolting to the next prefecture. A frown tugged down Hanai’s lips as he fixed his baseball cap. It’d gotten a lot better—the anxiety, the communication, the self-doubt—and nobody expected it to go away, but it always scared the lot of them when Mihashi got especially bad like this again.

He didn’t doubt the racket the other eight players created had something to do with it, so Hanai didn’t hesitate to place a gentle hand on Mihashi’s shoulder and turn her away from the dugout. Hanai returned Mihashi’s wide-eye panic with his most placating smile. “Sorry, it’s a little loud here and I’d like some company.” A bit of a stretch, but one Mihashi accepted easy enough. Truthfully, Hanai was getting a little uncomfortable pacing around the bench, stealing worried glances at Mihashi, willing her anxiety to alleviate even a little…

Once outside the dugout, they kept walking down the line, just enough so the chatter of the team no longer disturbed the rustling of the trees just beyond the fence. Hanai let out a breath and sank to the ground. Technically, sitting before a game counteracted the stretching, but he felt they both needed this right now. Mihashi paused a moment—probably also considering this—but followed suit.

They stayed silent several long moments. Hanai heard Mihashi squirming and shifting past his closed eyes. Without opening them he spoke up, just barely a whisper, “You doing alright?”

Mihashi’s wiggling silenced. “Yes.” she said on instinct, then after a beat,”… No… It’s… it’s not a good day…” she admitted, sounding defeated. Hanai nodded. A year ago she never would have confessed to something like this. It felt good to be trusted—be be worthy of her faith in him.

Another heavy silence.

“…Is this helping, or hurting?” Hanai asked, mouth feeling a little dry as he finally peeked his eyes open enough to glance at Mihashi still breathing to an uneven beat beside him. He never held much faith in his abilities to be comforting, and his instincts proved wrong on multiple occasions—

“It’s helping.” Mihashi cut off his train of thought with a firm nod. She took a deep slow breath and, wow, she really did seem to look a lot better now. “It’s… quiet here…” Finally uncurling her fists form her jersey front, she slid one, palm-up, in the space between them both: an offer. Hanai grew red-faced instantly, taking her strong calloused hand probably too-quickly with his own. After several long seconds he meekly laced their fingers, ears positively burning.

By the time Tajima called them back to the dugout, Abe close behind with a lecture on their tongue about the importance of staying warmed up, both his and Mihashi’s hands felt warm and steady.


End file.
